


The Moon Is a Crescent

by Polyworth (Jellibeebee)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Uchiha Madara, not gender bending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 19:44:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellibeebee/pseuds/Polyworth
Summary: Izuna's big sister is always there for him when he needs her.Or, a closer look at Izuna's character and his relationship with Madara.





	The Moon Is a Crescent

Izuna does not like sleeping in new places.

The house is old and creaks in the late summer wind, wood and rice paper clattering together like dry skin and bones. It sits perched on a hill over looking the other decrepit houses huddled like mourners on either side of an unpaved single road running down the center. Beyond that are some crumbling stone walls with faded Uchiwa crests, the only real way to tell that this miniature ghost town is an Uchiha compound.

Izuna is seven and a seasoned shinobi, but does not like sleeping in new places for the same reason civilian children his age do not. He isn't afraid of shadows posing as monsters, rather he is afraid of unseen enemies hiding in any given location that hasn't been thoroughly scouted out before hand. There wasn't any time for that tonight though, their clan hadn't reached this unused compound until late, having been chased nearly to the border of the land of valleys by the Senju. Normally their longtime rivals weren't that much of a problem to evade, but the Clan's current employer (some fool lord in the northern end of the land of fire wanting to claim land from a distant cousin in the east) apparently has enemies to spare. No sooner had they retreated a respectable distant from the Senju than their allies had arrived in the form of the longstanding Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi triad, whose forces had posed a considerable problem.

Three more days found them retreating as far as they could to the eastern end of the land of fire, trying to buy time enough to gather enough supplies or find a way to complete their contract without engaging the Senju and their allies further.

Izuna glares up at the water damaged ceiling and tries to drown out his aimless anger by looking for patterns and listening to his family's breathing on either side of him. Father is well asleep by now--his breaths come shallow and regular--and Madara may well be too, but her breathing has always been deceptively deep and measured even when waking--so he can never be too sure with her.

He has no idea how they can sleep like this, at a time like this. He knows they had to stop their retreat at some point--soldier pills can only take you so far, and while the clan's civilians certainly are made of tougher stuff than most, they have their limits. But it's eating at him, the uncertainty, and it leaves him restless and wide awake.

_"The well rested shinobi lives to see tomorrow." Says Izuna and Madara's father as he unpacks their bedrolls onto a cave floor. Izuna is four, and holds Madara's hand like a lifeline. Father's eyes are dull and deeply weary in the wan lamp light, Uchiha-black now that they're away from the fray of battle. Izuna doesn't want to sleep in a cave, and would say as much to father, but Madara settles down onto her futon and tugs him down with her. He pouts into her collar, and she hushes and hums until all his complaints are shushed away and he's drifting off to sleep._

The wind outside has the nearby wisteria bush scrape up against the outer wall, and Izuna tenses on top of his futon. Neither father nor Madara so much as twitch, so he decides that they're both asleep enough that he can move without incident.

_'Well,'_ Izuna thinks to himself as he shifts upright, taking great care to remain silent. _'Those who don't sleep in death traps tend to live longer too, Father.'_  

Madara is a notoriously light sleeper, and it's for that reason that Izuna isn't above crawling to evade detection. He takes a deep breathe before beginning to crawl across the the moldering old tatami as fast as he dares. His sword is sheathed near the door, along with Madara and Father's weapons, so that's what he's aiming for.

Izuna knows that, logically, all Uchiha compounds are well kept secrets, and there is little to no chance of any outsider knowing their location or whereabouts. So he also knows, logically, that he's wasting his time and insulting his father's (and clan head's) judgment.

And he knows, logically of course, that this is an exercise in futility.

But he can't sleep until he knows in his heart that his sister and father are safe.

He reaches the door, moving slowly to minimize any sounds, and carefully slides the door open just enough for him to slip through.

Izuna manages to unsheathe his blade and close the door behind him in one fluid movement, his father and Madara none the wiser.

There's a thin light spilling in from the windows, a gray pre-dawn that reeks of rain present even in the confines of the musty old manor. Izuna picks his way through the adjacent rooms with his naked blade and thoroughly, meticulously, starts searching the entirety of it.

Of course, there's nothing to find.

It makes him feel a bit foolish, after the fourth room turns up empty of anything save for some old pottery and rotting tatami. He heaves a heavy sigh, runs a hand through his hair in an unintentional mimic of their father when he's thinking. _'Maybe I should have stayed in bed after all.'_

Izuna is about to turn back and give up on the whole endeavor when he thinks he hears something-- a whisper of cloth against skin, feet on wood-- and then there's a figure in front of the doorway that he'd so foolishly left open. And of course it's Izuna's first instinct to raise his sword, angled so as to not reflect any light, prepared to strike--

"Otoutou," Madara says in a worried little whisper, her hair more of a mess than usual from sleeping. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Izuna exhales a shaky little breath, lowers his sword. "I just--we never got the chance to..." He tries to explain, wants to explain, but he is tired and seven years old and frightened and angry.

There's hot tears on his face before he knows it, and he hates that he's crying, because he's not a baby, not even a child. Izuna is a warrior, just like his sister and father and he shouldn't be so _scared_  in their own compound but--

"Otoutou," Madara says again, softer this time, and her hand is on his hand and gently prying away his sword. "Hush now, it's alright. That's it, come now. Come here." She brings him close and he breaths her in and cries, and he hates it.

But Madara is warm, and Izuna is tired, and she runs her fingers through his hair. They stay that way for a while, he thinks. Quiet and together and safe.

"Don't you want to go and see how the moon is tonight?" She asks when they've settled onto the floor, his head in her lap. He'd nearly fallen asleep.

"Can't, it's going to rain this morning." Izuna yawns and Madara hums, tugs lightly at one of his bangs.

"Then I suppose you'll just have to tell me. How is the moon tonight, Izuna?"

_Izuna is four again, and has been sitting outside of Mother's room for what feels like years. Clansmen come and go, carrying things in and out of the room where the rest of Izuna's family has been holed up for ages now. Madara promised she'd_ _take him_ _up onto the roof tonight, but she's still inside with Mother and Father, being important and eight years old while Izuna is stuck sitting outside, being four and bored out of his mind._

_It’s been like this since mother gave birth to what was supposed to be Izuna’s little sister--no one letting Izuna in to see her while everyone else comes in and out and making him sit outside. His stomach is tight and uncomfortable thinking about mother, with her pale face and thin cheeks, so he stops thinking about it. Madara is going to bring him up to the roof tonight, and they’re going to look up at the stars and she’ll tell him stories._

_It’s very dark, well past dusk when Madara leaves mother’s room. Her eyes are red and wet but she smiles at Izuna, takes his hand and tugs him along behind her. He means to ask about mother, but something makes him feel like he shouldn’t._

_“You waited a really long time, Izuna. I’m proud of you for being patient.” She says, runs her soft fingers through his hair. He makes a sound because he heard her but doesn’t really respond. Something about tonight feels wrong, feels bad, but he doesn’t know what._

_They get to the front door and she crouches before him, down on one knee with one hand in his hair and the other on his shoulder. He looks at her, confused and a little annoyed._

_“Before we go out, why don’t we have a competition? I’ll guess what the moon will look like tonight, and then you, and we’ll see who’s right.” Izuna likes these sorts of games with his sister--he’s not as big or fast as her, but father says he’s very clever for his age._

_“Okay, you guess.” He says, so he can make a guess based off of what she says. He’s clever._

_“Alright, well, let’s see… I say it’ll be a bigger one, with only a little darkness on it.”_

_Izuna scrunches his nose and thinks, tries to remember what the moon was like last night or the night before._

_“I think,” He says, chews his lip a little more. “That it’s a little one.”_

_“A crescent?” Madara echoes, standing and sliding open the door. Izuna nods, takes her free hand in his. She’s warm, he steps in close so he can fit up against her side properly._

_“Mm-- yeah. I think the moon’s--_ _  
_ __  
\--a waxing crescent.” Izuna answers without having to think too hard about it. He can see the moon in his mind’s eye, a sliver of glowing cream in the dark void of the night sky, the barest curve of a nearly closed eye.

“So certain.” Madara murmurs, fond and amused as ever. She smooths over his hair again and again, making him drowsy. He knows that when he falls asleep, she’ll carry him back to bed.

“It’s easy to memorize, if you try.” Izuna mutters and Madara snorts, he can almost feel her roll her eyes. 

“Don’t get started sassing me tonight, little brother. Go to sleep--everything will be just fine.”

Izuna sighs and turns his face to rest more comfortably against her, lets himself start to drift off. It’s okay to sleep in this strange place--he believes in Madara, his big sister. She’ll never let any harm come to him, so long as she’s there.

 

_Izuna is fifteen, lying on his back in the medical tent in the current Uchiha encampment. He’s alone now, the field nurse having gone outside to speak with Madara. The wound in his side throbs painfully with every weak breath he draws, and the beige canvas of the tent’s ceiling blocks his vision from anything interesting._

_He closes his eyes, so very, very tired._

The moon is new tonight, _he thinks, and lets himself fall back into peaceful nothingness._

**Author's Note:**

> It's a head canon of mine that Madara is (closeted, mostly) nonbinary and transfem, so I use she/her and feminine descriptors for them throughout.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please comment if you read and liked it!
> 
> (Also, Izuna's only as dead as you want him to be, so no Major Character Death warning! Maybe he's just... sleeping)


End file.
